"The State of Israel ... will ensure complete equality of social and political
rights of all its inhabitants irrespective of religion ... it will guarantee freedom
of religion and conscience." - May 1948)

This week, two important events occurred, and Hiddush provided special public opinion polling and analysis on the core issues that arose:

Hiddush appealed to Defense Minister Lieberman, Chief of Staff Eizenkot and Chair of the Ministerial Committee for Ceremonies and Symbols - Culture Minister Regev, demanding that female soldiers be fully included in official state ceremonies, including the ceremonies for Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) and Yom HaZikaron (Israeli Memorial Day).

An ultra-Orthodox myth is that ultra-Orthodox women really want to sit in the back of the bus, so we shouldn’t interfere with the growing phenomenon of gender-segregated bus lines. However, ultra-Orthodox blogger Chani Weiser of B’nai Brak has recently come out publicly, challenging her community’s self-righteous claims. She does not want to sit at the back of the bus!

An ultra-Orthodox municipality sent out a modesty rule book that prohibits men and women from traveling together or sitting near one another at work, rules out informal greetings such as “hello” and “goodbye,” and bans joking together or discussing issues not directly related to work.